1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording medium such as an ink jet recording medium and a method for producing the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, speeding up of printing has been advanced in addition to formation of high-quality images owing to technical innovation in ink jet printers. With this innovation, ink jet recording media have been required to have high-speed ink absorbency in addition to the property of providing high-quality images. In addition, there has been a strong demand for glossiness for giving texture comparable with that of a silver salt photograph.
In order to meet such requirements, an inorganic pigment such as finer silica particles or alumina hydrate particles has come to be used in an ink receiving layer of an ink jet recording medium with the pigment held by a polymer binder such as polyvinyl alcohol. Among the inorganic pigments, the alumina hydrate allows forming a receiving layer with a less amount of a binder, and so the receiving layer is excellent in ink absorbency. On the other hand, the damage resistance of the resulting ink receiving layer may be lowered in some cases when the alumina hydrate is used. In order to solve such a phenomenon, the following proposals have been made.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H07-76162 has proposed an ink jet recording medium obtained by providing a silica gel layer formed of colloidal silica and a water-soluble binder on an alumina receiving layer having a boehmite structure. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-247022 has proposed a recording medium obtained by providing a porous layer formed of colloidal silica and a resin emulsion on an alumina receiving layer having a boehmite structure. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H07-101142 has proposed an ink jet recording sheet obtained by providing a gloss developing layer formed of colloid particles and a polymer latex. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-136777 has proposed an ink jet recording sheet obtained by providing a gloss protecting layer formed of a fine pigment and a binder.